BOOYAKA

2006-06-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

Improvisation in Urban Planning & Design

2006-06-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

Jo met musicien, philosopher & computer programmer George E Lewis in Paris. He recommended we read Rowan's Modes and Manifestations of Improvisation in Urban Planning, Design, and Theory

Psychogeography 101

2006-06-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

This is from an email exchange with kanarinka of www.turbulence.org

Ma:
- Individual vs collective perception. Debord says “One can dérive alone, but all indications are that the most fruitful numerical arrangement consists of several small groups of two or three people who have reached the same level of awareness, since cross-checking these different groups’ impressions makes it possible to arrive at more objective conclusions.” How do you do it?

Ka:
I try not to take Debord too literally. I think, in general, the tactics of the Situationists can be called into question in terms of how "objective" they are and how much they actually succeed in breaking one's regular habits around the exploration of space. The Situationists seemed to take some quasi-mystical stances (like that cities have "zones of attraction" which one could discover by "letting go" of habitual usages of space such as commuting to work) which seem based on the fact that many of them were white bourgeois men who had the time to wander around the city during the day and then claim that they were discovering things.

This is not to diminish their work which is extremely important, only to critique what they began so that others can take it up and into a new direction.

Ma:
- Why should be try to be objective anyway? Is this even possible? In your short description of psychogeography in turbulence.org you note: "contemporary practitioners of psychogeography not only consider themselves to be investigating the “geographic environment” but to also be actively transforming that environment through the production of affect — embodied sensation as opposed to subjective emotion." Could you explain briefly why you want to keep away from subjective emotion? How do we produce affect?

Ka:
I think neither subjectivity nor objectivity is the goal. Objectivity in some absolute sense is a fantasy. And the thing with subjectivity is that there is always a conglomerate of specific forces that produces it. So, we imagine that our "feelings" and emotions are ours and that they are interior to us, however, there are a host of forces - collective, architectural, institutional, cultural, economic - at work in producing our "feelings", our subjectivities. So, for example, if I try to just be "intuitive" and let my body wander where my emotions want to take it, then my emotions will always take it into a bookstore because i love books. This is also the problem with the "subconscious" -- we imagine that we can have access to some pre-rational state, but really it is just that we fall back into learned patterns of thinking and behavior.

The derive/drift can be a way of short-circuiting one's habitual patterns, circumventing some of the forces that shape our subjectivities and serve as a way of producing affect, however this depends on the parameters of the derive -- this is where algorithmic walking and the construction of rules for how one walks, based on what criteria, etc. becomes important. Chance/Randomness is one way of working, but probably not the most interesting. How can we set up rigorous rules that will allow us to experiment with the play and the potential of specific social & political spaces in the city? How can we test the politics of the city in a particular way? How can we transform the city, perhaps only briefly with our bodies?

Ma:
- Finally, what is the purpose of psychogeography? Can you for instance use what you produced to imagine alternative plans for area of the city you explored, or is the purpose only breaking the order of the spectacle for the time of a dérive, creating this alternative (real?) city in the space of a moment?

Ka:
I will speak here only for me -- I feel that its importance lies in its experiments with performance, architecture and place as applied to very specific, concrete situations. I can imagine using it for both of the things that you talk about above. I think psychogeography could be a powerful methodology to incorporate into a participatory architectural design process, for example, particularly in the exploratory stages. But I also think that it can be a powerful tool for this kind of ephemeral, embodied intervention into the social/political fabric of the city. When carefully, specifically and rigorously undertaken, it is a very powerful way to experiment with place, publics and communities. If it is carelessly applied, then it just makes for silly, superficial engagements. But sometimes these are also necessary in order to learn from them and get somewhere else.

Cheers to all of you - perhaps we will meet in Japan and be able to continue the conversation!
kanarinka

AltoMajo in Never Never Land

2006-04-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

"Shimokitazawaaaaa for ever and evaaaa in never nevaaaa land~"

Alto

2006-04-18T02:33:00.000-07:00

Majo

2006-04-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

in Shimokitazawa!

2006-04-18T02:22:00.000-07:00

Abracazawa!

2006-04-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

Alto Majo @ Urban Typhoon